Planted

God’s intention for His church, to be a living, growing people. He describes the church using the analogy of a cultivated field. A planting. A farm. A field. A garden.

1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

You, as a people, are God's farm; a garden that is growing and producing; flourishing and thriving.
We belong to God. And God is at work, active. We are also fellow labourers together with Him in this work. There is activity here, by God, and by His church. The church is meant to be an active operation; dynamic and productive.

God gives the increase; 1 Corinthians 3:7. God’s desire is for His church to grow. To be a fruitful
field; Isaiah 32:15.

God the Father is, Himself, the Husbandman; John 15:1. As the Gardener He wields the pruning shears for His purpose. John 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

God wants all of His people to be as a healthy plant. This can mean seasons of God trimming us, pruning us, shaping us. It’s for our good. We will be healthier for it and bear more fruit that way. We can face difficult times, painful things, loss… Seasons of trial and tribulation. Hurts. God’s discipline. We need that. We can trust the process. Pruning will strengthen and improve us. And we will produce even more.

God desires for His people to bear good fruit. Philippians 1:11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness… Colossians 1:10 …being fruitful in every good work…

God calls us, as labourers together with God, to be an active part in this harvest work. Luke 10:2 …The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

Spiritual fruitfulness comes from cultivation. The farm needs diligent toil. Revival and spiritual fruitfulness comes by cultivation. Hosea 10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

We are called to be harvest workers, who are engaged in activity and employment. Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Let us labour on, and not give way to spiritual fatigue. We can trust the Gardener to do His work.

The Son of God began His sufferings in a Garden and brought them to a close in a Garden.
It was in the very first garden that the first Adam fell with sin’s curse.

God chose a garden where His great salvation work began, with sweat as great drops of blood falling to the soil. John 19:41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulcher… Our Lord Jesus was buried and raised in a Garden. When Mary saw the risen Lord she supposed Him to be the gardener.

Straight after God made man, He planted a garden, and man was in the garden of God. Genesis 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. At the first there were no thorns, no weeds. No curse.

At the cross, the second Adam spoke the word, the promise, of Paradise to the dying thief by His side. Luke 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

The Bible foretells of the ultimate Paradise of God… that is prepared for us… Revelation 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

God’s plan for His church is that we be God’s husbandry, God’s cultivated field, as a garden yielding fruit.

God wills that we be planted. Psalm 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

God wants for us to flourish. Determine to draw your supply from God as your resource.
We can be spiritually healthy. And grow strong. We can be God’s husbandry. His cultivated field. His fruitful field.

Jeremiah 17:8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

God wants for us to have a maximum yield. God’s will is that we be fruitful.